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Samsung Syncmaster 2243BW 22-inch LCD Display Review
Samsung Syncmaster 2243BW 22-inch LCD Display Review - PCSTATS
All widescreen LCD monitors are not created equal, and unfortunately this leads to pretty confused looking consumers as they try to understand why identical screen sizes can differ in price by hundreds of dollars.
 70% Rating:   
Filed under: Monitors Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Samsung Feb 05 2009   Max Page  
Home > Reviews > Monitors > Samsung Syncmaster 2243BW

Visual Display Tests, OSD

Like most monitors, the 22" Samsung 2243BW display comes with a little feature built into the control panel called MagicBright (other brands use different names to describe the same effect). The tool has several presets for brightness/contrast/colour temperature, based on somewhat arbitrary usage scenarios like watching a movie, reading text or playing video games. For example, when "text" is chosen the screen switches to a warmer image that isn't too bright, and thus is easier on the eyes.

The MagicBright button is located on the control panel, and also accessible through the on screen display. MagicBright has pre-programmed modes to suit movies, text, sports, games, etc. For general desk work we preferred the custom settings which we manually configured.

On Screen Display menu

The OSD menu is neatly organized so it's easy to find what you're looking for. The only problem we encountered while navigating the Syncmaster 2243BW's OSD menu was the control panel keys. Without any tactile flags to indicate the position of the up/down and menu/enter buttons we found ourselves often pressing the wrong key, or nothing at all.

The Gaming test

The Samsung Syncmaster 2243BW monitor was tested with a fast paced FPS game and the results were satisfactory. The high contrast ratio of 1000:1 resulted in good black backgrounds and suitably bright graphics, just as things should be. The Syncmaster 2243BW's screen is rated at a quick 5ms G-to-G pixel refresh rate, so rapid screen movements were ghost free. We did notice a bit of light bleeding around the outer bezel of the screen, but it wasn't excessive.

The dynamic Magicbright setting can generate weird effects in gaming environments where the screen rapidly changes from dark to highly contrast scenes. It's generally better to stick with a fixed display regime.

LCD Screen Evaluation Notes

Test parameters: Mode - Custom, resolution 1680x1050 32 bit, 60Hz, 6500K, DVI connection.

For the evaluation of the Samsung Syncmaster 2243BW's display quality, PCSTATS used a standard Monitor Test application which outputs various test patterns, solid colours, and different grey scales that enable subjective analysis. These include contrast, colour luminance, brightness and Moire. Ghosting is subjectively tested in a gaming environment.

Brightness and Contrast: The Samsung Syncmaster 2243BW has a high contrast ratio which resulted in bright white test bars over a suitably black background. From head on the transition white test bars were distinguishable, but the shallow vertical viewing angle was noticeable if the viewer sat too close to the screen. Some light bleeding around the edge of the screen was noticeable, but none around the high contrast black-to-white test images.

Colour Vibrancy: The white, red, green and blue test screens were equally bright and vibrant. All test images were even across the entire screen. Colour saturation on the whole was fine. No visible dull or broken pixels were detected. The 2243BW is a bit limited with respect to the full colour gamut it can reproduce because the screen is based on TFT/TN LCD panel technology. In some situations very subtle gray tones are washed out, or appear yellowish.

Non-native Resolution: The native resolution of the Samsung 2243BW is 1680x1050. We tested several non-native resolutions and found the image dithering /image scaling more than capable. Text remained legible and undistorted, edges were smooth and not blurred.

Moire: I'm not quite sure what the culprit was, but the Moire test patterns displayed very slowly on the Samsung 2243BW monitor. In fact, the 2243BW rendered them slow enough that you could see it going from left to right, or top to bottom. PCSTATS has never encountered this type of result before, so we're not sure what to make it. There were no noticeable background noise in the moire test patterns, at least.

Viewing Angles: If you view the 2243BW from too close a distance the limited 170°/160° horizontal/vertical viewing angles begin to affect the screen quality. In particular the 160° vertical viewing angle caused us the most annoyance. The bottom Windows "start" bar appeared either slightly yellow, or the light gray was over contrasted and whiter than it ought to be.

Widescreen for High Definition, is the Samsung 2243BW worth it?

A good rule of thumb to find yourself an amazing LCD display is not to dwell too much on abstract numbers like pixel refresh times or 1,000,000:1 contrast ratios. No, if you really want to cut through all the marketing hype pay closer attention to the displays' viewing angles. The specification is presented in terms of horizontal and vertical degrees, with 178°/178° being the best, and values lower than 160°/160° a clear indicator of an LCD screen to avoid.

High viewing angles tell you that a better quality LCD panel technology is used (ie. S-PVA, or IPS), whereas low viewing angles indicate a more mainstream LCD screen: TFT/TN. The 22" widescreen Samsung Syncmaster 2243BW LCD display falls into the latter category, and so it is most definitely oriented towards budget-minded and gaming crowds. The Samsung 2243BW retails for a very affordable $270 CDN, and while it has the screen real estate every professional users wants, its limited viewing angles and shallow colour gamut make it an unsuitable LCD monitor for professional tasks in our opinion.

The 22" Samsung 2243BW features fairly average 170°/160° viewing angles, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, and typical brightness value of 300cd/m2. These specs conspire to make this widescreen 1680x1050 pixel panel a bit of a mixed bag. The screen is rated for a 5ms pixel response time, but minor light bleed through was visible around the bevel on an all black test screen.

It's 22" 16:10 aspect ratio is ideal for watching HD movies at full screen, but shallow viewing angles mean you'll want to sit directly in front of this LCD to get the best picture. Ultimately, we were left unsatisfied with the picture on the Samsung 2243BW 22" widescreen display because of its limited viewing angles. Given its very economical price tag of only $270 we completely expected to love it... unfortunately cold hard reality sunk in the moment we began putting it through an average day's work at PCSTATS.

If you're really strapped for cash but have to have a 22" widescreen to accommodate spreadsheets and other text-heavy work, the Samsung 2243BW is okay, certainly better than a 19" screen built on the same TFT/TN panel. If you've ever worked on a good 178°/178° 19" LCD screen and are now searching for something bigger that won't break the bank, the 2243BW will most definitely leave you thinking you sacrificed far too much in the visual quality column for those three extra horizontal inches.

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Contents of Article: Samsung Syncmaster 2243BW
 Pg 1.  Samsung Syncmaster 2243BW 22-inch LCD Display Review
 Pg 2.  Closer Look at the Samsung 2243BW
 Pg 3.  Can you adjust the LCD Display?
 Pg 4.  — Visual Display Tests, OSD

 
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